Was there a collision?
I suggest that there does not have to have been any actual physical contact to have caused this accident.
On the road you meet a large lorry at a closing speed of 150 knots. As you pass your car experiences a severe buffet. Now consider 2 aircraft of similiar comparatives sizes closing at 6 times that speed. V squared has become much much greater. The winglet is subjected to this sudden force in the opposite sense (direction) to which it is designed to work, it fails strikes a glancing blow to the tail plane.
Back to the motoring comparison, Ranger One much earlier in the thread (post #178) made some calculations, that winglet now has as much energy as a very large car traveling at 40 mph. The winglet now strikes the the 738. Now refer to the Lockerbie (Pan Am) report to see how damage to 1 panel of the skin leads to the failure of others.
Last edited by Pom Pax; 4th Oct 2006 at 08:42.
Reason: spelling